Healthy and Hearty School Lunch Choices Needed

When I was a child, I was taught the four basic food groups (the Meat Group, the Dairy Group, the Fruit and Vegetable Group, and the Cereals and Grains Group). Seems as though the Federal Health Guidelines haven't changed very much. Public and private school children are still being fed an unhealthy diet that causes diseases, although it is now officially called "The Food Pyramid". The USDA still calls what should be called the Calcium category, the "Milk" group. Even more shocking is that even their mediocre recommendations aren't being met by a huge percentage of schools. Their details on their "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" should be researched better and should be replaced with PCRM's "The New Four Food Groups" (Fruit, Legumes, Whole Grains, Vegetables); PCRM's easy to read illustrated handout can be found here. Our schools should be required to live up to PCRM's standards, with severe penalties for noncompliance. The present and future health of our nation is dependent on them.

The Hawkeye (a Burlington, Iowa, newspaper) had an article last week about a vegetarian high school senior that is not being offered proper vegan options for her daily school lunch (plain iceberg lettuce is NOT a good option). This reminded me, again, of the changes that need to be made in the quality of foods that are served to the youth of America. Dietary guidelines should be based on actual researched and proven facts, not on old wives' tales from decades ago.

Diet directly affects learning. We should be giving our children the very best foods, not the second rate foods that the schools are cooking. While as an Unschooler I don't believe in testing children as an accurate indicator of their true knowledge, I still find the results of diet on actual learning to be astounding.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has this recent news release on the school lunch program. The "report card" made for various schools regarding the actual healthiness of the foods that they offer to their students is very enlightening!

What can you do? Demand that your children are being offered healthy food choices. Stand up for their health. Write to your state representatives. Don't support the school lunch program until it is changed. Pack your children's lunches every day. Be aware of your own diet and talk to your children about your own food choices. You could even ultimately make the same decision as my family made and keep your children home.